Story+1984-11-02+Los+Angeles,+CA

´´Here´s a song about believing in ghosts....it´s about blind faith and its....tragic results ....”
 * 02.11.84 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ´Reason to Believe´**

´´Thank you, this is, uh....this is a song about old things, I guess, used cars.... everybody´s had one of those, I think....unless you was born into the good life (chuckles)....but uh, I remember when I was a kid, it used to be a big deal when....you know, once a year...my father´d take us down to the car lot and he´d pick out a car, it was the only time that me and my sister ever got together on anything, you know.... we´d be begging him all the way down there to get a convertible, we always wanted a convertible....you know, we had that whine, you know, like kids can get like ´Please, please´ (chuckles) ´Please, Dad, we´ll be good for the rest of the year´....(?) he´d say ´I´ll think about it´ and you get down there....he´d look around and.....look around.... anything under a 100 dollars was fair game so (chuckles)....yeah, so....anyway, he´d end up buying like a Studebaker hardtop, you know (chuckles)....we used to, we used to able to get him back ´cause me and my sister knew the exact spot in the backseat where no matter what we did while he was driving, he couldn´t reach us....(?) ´Wait till I get home´, you know....(?)....but when we got home (chuckles)....
 * 02.11.84 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ´Used Cars´**

´´Thanks....I guess there´s certain events....that happen that people kind of mark their lives by....I know, uh....I can remember exactly where I was, I was 13, I was in high school when John Kennedy was killed....I remember I was in gym class and somebody came running across the field and told me....and I remember where I was when....the day that Elvis Presley died....and uh....sometimes, sometimes a dream coming true is a dangerous thing.....”
 * 02.11.84 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ´Johnny Bye Bye´**

´´This is a song now....this is a song about....ancient history....I don´t mean like the Babylonians or the Mesopotamians....or the Neapolitans or the Italians....I mean I´m talking personal stuff....details of my own personal life....that you will read soon after my demise in the National Enquirer...I feel like confessing....now, when I was but a lad ....there was three things I was interested in....one was the guitar....the other one was pool....my father was a pool player and his grandfather was so I decided I wanted to be one....and then the third one....now, one Christmastime my folks got me a pooltable, cost 69.95 down at Sears....and it was just big enough to where it fit in my bedroom.... so like I would come home with my girlfriends, you know, and I would say ´Dad, we´re gonna go up to my bedroom and play some pool´....and he´d say ´Ok´....now, now, he used to sit in the kitchen all the time and that was right underneath my room ....so if he didn´t hear the guitar and if he didn´t hear the poolballs knocking around.... he had a broom and he´d start banging on the ceiling....but I kind of got wise ´cause I pulled the pooltable way over close to the bed, you see, then every once in a while I would reach up and knock the balls around little bit....but anyway, out of those three things....the only thing I really became proficient at....was the guitar....pool I gave up on....now, the third one....I´m still looking for some dedicated volunteers to practise, practise, practise....anyway...I´ll get it, I´m gonna get it, Big Man, one of these days, one of these days....here we go, boys, let me tell the story....”
 * 02.11.84 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ´Glory Days´**

´´Oh....this is, uh, I guess in ´70....´78, I was, I was in Phoenix, Arizona....I stopped at this drugstore and I found a book called ´Born on the Fourth of July´....and it was by a Vietnam Veteran named Ron Kovic....it was his story....and uh, this is a song about, uh ...coming home....it´s called ´Shut out the Lights´....”
 * 02.11.84 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ´Shut Out the Light´**

´´Thanks....this is, uh....this next song, I know when I was a kid, I grew up with a real, kind of love-hate-relationship with the place that I was born.....I remember I was about 16, I used to, I used to hate that town so bad and wanna get out so bad....and as I got a little older I found that when I get home, I´d, I´d end up like taking my car and driving back through there....and uh....I guess someday you gotta kind of confront the things that frighten you, I guess when I was....I was always scared of admitting that, that some way I belonged to something....and I guess that´s what this song is about, it´s about responsobility to the place that you live....and uh, tonight, during intermission, out in the hall you´ll see some folks from....the Steelworkers-Oldtimers Foodbank.... and uh...what they do is they feed people that are down-and-out, that been hit hard.... suffering from unemployment....they feed 5,000 families a month and they´re helping to make your town a better place to live....so....check ´em out, I know they´d appreciate your support, thank you.....this is your hometown....”
 * 02.11.84 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ´My Hometown´**

´´Well, now, this is a song....about the conflict....between worldly things and spiritual health....between desires of the flesh....and spiritual ecstasy ....now, where did this conflict begin ?....well, it began in the beginning....in a place called the Garden of Eden....now, the Garden of Eden was originally believed to have been located in Mesopotamia.....but the latest theological studies have found out that its actual location was ten miles south of Jersey City, off the New Jersey Turnpike....that´s why they call it the Garden State !....now understand, in the Garden of Eden there were none of the accoutrements of modern living....I mean you didn´t have no TV, you didn´t have no little toaster that you could put your little Pop-Tarts in and then go watch Johnny Carson at night....you didn´t have no little bed you could snuggle in and tuck your head on the little pillow, you couldn´t go out on to the highway and buy a cheeseburger if you wanted one....in the Garden of Eden there was no sin....there was no sex....man lived in a state of innocence....now, when it comes to no sex, I prefer the state of guilt that I live in....but before we went out on tour I decided to make a spiritual journey... to answer some of the questions for myself, to the location of the Garden of Eden....I went out and found that it was now occupied, that area is now occupied by Happy Dan´s Celebrity Used Car Lot....I walked in, Dan said ´Son, you need a yellow convertible, a four-door DeVille with a Continental spare, wide chrome wheels, air-conditioning, automatic heat, fold-out bed in your backseat, eight-track tapedeck , TV and a phone so you can speak to your baby when you’re driving all alone’...I said ‘I’ll take two’...then I said ´But Dan, can you answer, what I wanna know, I wanna know about the mysteries of temptation....I wanna know why sometimes my soul pulls me this way and why my flesh pulls me that way....He said ´Well, son, that´s easy....you see, because right here....on these ten beautiful acres of industrial zone....before it was a toxic waste dump...set the prettiest little paradise you ever seen on earth....and in the beginning....there were many wonderous things : there was a Tree of Life, there was a Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil....there was Adam, there was Eve, and she was fine....there was an apple, there was a snake, there was temptation. there was sin....and parked curbside....for 99.95 and no money down....there was a getaway car...a pink..... Cadillac....”
 * 02.11.84 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ´Pink Cadillac´**

´´She´d be calling me ´Bobby, Bobby´....I´d be running around the house trying.... trying to find my keys ´cause she always hid ´em on me....sometimes she´d be crying ....´cause she didn´t like me going out at night....and it was just so hard to make her understand....that....that when I took the car out and when I won....it was the only time I ever really felt good about myself....´cause it was something that I could do good.... to have just one thing....just one thing that you can do....that makes you feel proud of yourself...I don´t think that´s too much for anybody to ask.... (...) Well, that was the night that we left.....we still don´t know where we´re going yet ....but I guess that´ll come in time....and as for this place....well, there´s a lot of things that we´ll always remember...”
 * 02.11.84 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ´Racing in the Street´**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//